Governor Raises Tax Relief Price Tag
to Jaw-Dropping $50 Million in X Post
Capitol Inside
June 17, 2025
Fresh off a big government extravanganza that the Texas regular session turned out to be this year, Governor Greg Abbott demonstrated on Tuesday that bigger is better in the Lone Star State with an eye-popping social media post on the Legislature's perennial property tax relief package.
"We allocated $50 BILLION for property tax relief this session," Abbott declared on X after a bill signing ceremony on Monday with a dozen GOP lawmakers and a lone Senate Democrat. "That’s 25% of the state budget.
No state has done as much."
Folks let's face it. Our governor is being humble with his words. All of the 49 other states combined haven't cut taxes by the amount that Abbott claims lawmakers here slashed levies on property in the regular session that adjourned earlier this month.
But Abbott might be wise to double-check his numbers that could be a bit on the high side in terms of the property tax legislation's price tag and its share of the budget for state government in the coming years. According to media reports on the bill signings, the package that Abbott signed into law would cost $10 billion if voters approve it at the polls in November.
For those without a calculator on their phone, watch or laptop,
the grand total that Abbott touted is five times higher than the sum that his constituents read about on newspaper, television and social media web sites since the promotional event on the Legislature's latest foray into property tax relief in a fight that never ends.
Based on the fiscal notes for the package that Abbott signed with Senate Bill 4 and 23 and House Bill 9, Texans are expected to save less than $5 billion during the next two-year budget cycle. The three bills would cost the state slightly more than $9 billion over the course of the next five years.
The Legislature's approved a budget for the 2026-2027 biennium with $338 billion in all funds with $154 billion earmarked for general revenue and GR-dedicated spending. The budget would be $200 billion for the next two years if $50 billion accounted for 25 percent of the total.
Texas would be spending nearly $85 billion on property tax relief if the percentage that the governor cited was correct and based on the all funds total. One fourth of the GR budget would be less than $39 billion. So Texans who aren't experts in government budgeting and math may find it difficult to add the Abbott numbers up.
Abbott pulled the numbers from the hat after penning his signature on three bills that legislators approved at the Capitol this year in an ongoing fight to control ever-rising property taxes that are used to fund public schools and local governments.
It's conceivable that the governor simply had bad numbers and made an honest mistake with the post. But the message had been up for nearly 24 hours without changes by Tuesday night.
Abbott had a cheering section at the event in Denton with Republican lawmakers lined up behind him and the bill sponsors at the ends of the table where the governor was sitting beside House Speaker Dustin Burrows. Democratic State Senator Royce West of Dallas is shown behind Abbott in one of four photos that the governor included with the post.
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